[Ahban]

I thank you for your reply. It is from the scriptures and I accept them as divinely inspired and profitable for instruction.

Those scriptures DON'T make the case for social programs. They only insure that the king does not abuse the rights of the poor because they are powerless. I am in full agreement with that.

It is also written that we are not to favor the poor. This is in Exodus 23:3 and Leviticus 19:15. Impartial justice is God's standard. Most of the time, rulers favor the rich, so their are many warnings against that. But there are also warnings against favoring the poor, as transfer payments do.

BTW, my household income is such that I am on the lower end of the scale. I am not saying this for my personal benefit. I am saying that government welfare is immoral because it is theft, and it is showing partiality, and it promotes coveting, all of which are forbidden by God's Word.

[DannyTN]

"It is also written that we are not to favor the poor. "

Those verses are for judges in a civil or criminal court, not for rulers. That means that if a poor man sues a rich man the judge shouldn't give the poor man a judgement just because the judge had compassion on the poor man. That is very different from a King collecting taxes and having mercy on the poor.

"I am saying that government welfare is immoral because it is theft, and it is showing partiality, and it promotes coveting, all of which are forbidden by God's Word. "

It's not theft if it is appropriately administered under the law. It is not showing partiality in civil or criminal judgements of the kind forbidden by scripture. Helping the poor does not necessarily promote coveting and might even prevent it.

What do you think "rescuing the children of the needy" means? It doesn't say rescuing the children of the abused or oppressed, it says "needy".

[DannyTN]

What's more look at how God managed when He was King of Israel, prior to Israel requesting an earthly King, King Saul.

Not only was every third or fourth year of the levitical tithe given. But the corners of the fields were to be left for the poor, any spillage was to be left for the poor, and not everything was to be harvested and was to be left for the poor. In addition, the fields were to be left fallow for the poor every seven years.

That worked in a farm economy, but in the modern economy we can't do all of that. So what do you suggest we do to make up for that?

"We the People" are the rulers of the land. If we wish to remain so, we must consider the "cause of the Poor".